- Joined
- Dec 23, 2019
- Messages
- 1,138
Evening all
I've been engaged in creating my own "dogmeat" cutter grinder using what I have available. It's loosely based on the Quorn - at least the wheel head will be as I quite like the idea of the threaded column for course height adjustment (and allowing rotation) and fine by slightly tilting with a couple of screws.
The quick start thread is a problem: I only have what might be called a "mini lathe" (Myford) that doesn't have a bed long enough to get the bar in, let alone support with the tailstock. In any case, I'm not sure it would like gearing the carriage to produce a 2tpi thread... I'm not surprised it scared the bejesus out of people.
I do have a Bridgeport and a dividing head with an auxiliary shaft, which means that with the addition of some gears (that I also had to make) I can spiral mill. It's something I've always wanted to do too, so time to get to it. I'll fill in the details and calculations more fully when my fingers have recovered from turning the handle 1200 times, but for the moment, here's a pic of a piece of 32mm silver steel having a 15mm pitch slot cut down most of its length:
Video to follow, I'll have to edit and YouTube it as its too large to upload.
Really enjoyed this, the calculation and setup was super fun! The actual machining op was hard work as I couldn't use the table power feed. The ratio between the table and dividing head is 13.333:1, so way too big an ask for the feed motor or leadscrew. The only sane way to do it was drive from the handle on the dividing head and letting it drive the table. I'll be rigging a motor up to drive it at the head for future ops, I've literally worm the finger prints off fingers and thumbs!
Anyway, thought I'd share. Time for a celebratory scotch!
I've been engaged in creating my own "dogmeat" cutter grinder using what I have available. It's loosely based on the Quorn - at least the wheel head will be as I quite like the idea of the threaded column for course height adjustment (and allowing rotation) and fine by slightly tilting with a couple of screws.
The quick start thread is a problem: I only have what might be called a "mini lathe" (Myford) that doesn't have a bed long enough to get the bar in, let alone support with the tailstock. In any case, I'm not sure it would like gearing the carriage to produce a 2tpi thread... I'm not surprised it scared the bejesus out of people.
I do have a Bridgeport and a dividing head with an auxiliary shaft, which means that with the addition of some gears (that I also had to make) I can spiral mill. It's something I've always wanted to do too, so time to get to it. I'll fill in the details and calculations more fully when my fingers have recovered from turning the handle 1200 times, but for the moment, here's a pic of a piece of 32mm silver steel having a 15mm pitch slot cut down most of its length:
Video to follow, I'll have to edit and YouTube it as its too large to upload.
Really enjoyed this, the calculation and setup was super fun! The actual machining op was hard work as I couldn't use the table power feed. The ratio between the table and dividing head is 13.333:1, so way too big an ask for the feed motor or leadscrew. The only sane way to do it was drive from the handle on the dividing head and letting it drive the table. I'll be rigging a motor up to drive it at the head for future ops, I've literally worm the finger prints off fingers and thumbs!
Anyway, thought I'd share. Time for a celebratory scotch!